Indian army chief’s statements provocative: FO

The Foreign Office on Thursday said the recent statement issued by Indian army chief General Bikram Singh was unfortunate and provocative.Addressing the weekly media briefing, FO spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam added that such remarks could lead to deterioration of ties between the two countries.Earlier this week, General Singh was quoted by Indian media as saying that India was not bound to follow the rules if Pakistan was up to breaking them.“If rules are followed by our neighbours, we follow them too. If rules are broken, we won’t sit on it, we will break them too,” General Singh had said warning Pakistan against ceasefire violations.Aslam told reporters that Pakistan was doing its utmost to establish peace along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border diving Kashmir between India and Pakistan.She moreover said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz had left for Morocco where he would be participating in the meeting of the Al Quds committee.She added that Pakistan's position on Palestine was clear, adding that at the meeting in Morocco, Pakistan would speak in favour of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.Aslam said Pakistan was against Israel's continued construction of illegal settlements in occupied territories and added that Jerusalem should be liberated from Israeli occupation.She said that the matter of illegal Pakistanis being deported from Italy is being highlighted we do not know how many Pakistanis have been affected. Illegal migrants are a big problem for the world.She said that a certain lobby in the world is working for the elimination of capital punishment. Drug dealers are playing with the lives of the people adding that we do not have statistics on how many Pakistanis are involved in the drug trade.In response to a another question the spokesperson said that Pakistan does not want military solution to Iran’s' nuclear problem the matter should be solved through dialogue.The spokesperson said Pak-Iran gas is our mutual issue there is no need for a new agreement. There is a problem with funding due to which we the project is progressing at a slow pace.She said US-Afghanistan have bilateral relation . Afghanistan is an independent country and can decide for itself. Soil of Afghanistan should not be used against Pakistan and neither we would allow our land to be used against anyone.